Designing the Pattern of Participatory Management in Sustainability of Saline Wetlands in Masileh Plain of Qom Province

Nowadays, wetlands are indispensable ecosystems and play a crucial role on the stability of cosystems in future. Considering the importance of sustainable management of the saline wetlands and their impacts, participatory patterns of sustainability management of the saline wetlands in the plain of Masileh in Qom province is discussed in this paper. The population of this study includes all experts in Agriculture Organization of Qom province, Qom Regional Water Company and all Environmental Protection Department experts, Natural Resources and Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism of Qom, as well as the Subsidiary Department of these organizations that are located in Qom and Qomrud counties (the area of the Masileh Plain). The sample of the study are 251 experts, based on Cochran, selected through simple random sampling. Two section questionnaires were utilized for data collection, including participatory management section and sustainability section. The reliability of Questionnaire was measured through pre-test and analyzed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Meanwhile, the research committee confirms the validity of the questionnaire. Pearson correlation coefficient, one-sample t-test and path analysis were used through SPSS and Lisrel softwares for analyzing the data. The results showed that social sustainability, environmental sustainability and economic sustainability have significant and positive effects on the participatory management. In addition, the role of interest groups (consultation, intervention in planning, intervention in decision-making, motivation, independence, communication and individual rights) have significant and positive effects on the social, environmental, and economic sustainability.